HSE ‘failed to get to grips with ability to deliver €33m lab project’
A €33 million HSE project had major flaws that ‘seriously underestimated’ the challenge to deliver it which led to delays in its rollout, a report found.
The MedLIS project was designed to streamline laboratory information so that healthcare providers nationwide had access to complete and up-todate data.
However, the project has been beset by delays with an internal report finding the original project plan was unrealistic and based on a “very aggressive timeline” that was never likely to be met.
The confidential report by
‘It did not reflect good project governance’
consultants Mazars said the project delivery was based on nine key assumptions, none of which proved to be correct.
It also found that a revised project plan was optimistic and that many of the staff involved were already ‘highly sceptical’ about it being completed ahead of newly set deadlines.
The report said: ‘A failure to deliver the next approved plan will seriously impact the credibility of MedLIS project, the morale of the project team, and may create negative media coverage.’
Mazars found the contract had been agreed based on an underestimate of what was involved and the significant differences in the operation of the 43 laboratories covered.
It also said the national project management team – made up of three people – was too small for the task.
‘It may simply not have the time required to effectively manage the project on a day-today basis,’ said the report.
It added that none of the three were experienced and qualified project management professionals though they had been given some training.
It found that the project manager was also required to cover hospital duties at a hospital in the North East ‘potentially resulting in a very long and demanding working week’.
The report also said three major roles – quality/change manager, testing, and back office – were being carried out by one person, working 2.5 days a week.
‘We consider that good practice would suggest that these roles would be filled on a fulltime basis i.e. three separate roles,’ said the report.
Mazars also found other weaknesses in the project, saying combining the role of project manager and clinical director did not ‘reflect good project governance’.
It said it was not clear why the project board had not acted ‘decisively when the original project plan became clearly unachievable’.
The report also said the contracted company working on the project – Cerner – had not been invited to attend board meetings at a time when the relationship between them and the HSE was ‘at a low point’.
‘Potentially this broke a key communication mechanism when it was most needed,’ the document revealed.
Mazars also found the contractor had not received board minutes prior to October 2017 and were sometimes unaware of important decisions that had been made.
The report said communications with hospitals about the project had been poor, and they had not been provided with a project plan or schedule.
It said: ‘Poor communication may also have resulted in some hospitals becoming worried that they will have imposed on them a national lab solution that may ... be inferior to what they already have.’
It is understood the MedLIS system is still not live with plans for it to be rolled out at four Irish hospitals this year.
The HSE did not comment, saying it was focused on Covid vaccination programmes.
Cerner said it could not give details on a ‘contract that was confidential’.
THEY were style sensations in TV hits The Queen’s Gambit and The Crown, sporting a series of ravishing outfits and winning armies of fashion fans.
But there will be precious little glamour for Anya Taylor-Joy and Emma Corrin tonight as they wait to hear if their performances have earned them a Golden Globe.
The ceremony, normally a glitzy red-carpet event, is being held virtually – and it seems the hopefuls have been happy to dress down for the occasion as they wait at home for the verdicts.
Among them will be Irish hopefuls Brendan Gleeson for Best Supporting Actor in a TV role for his portrayal of Donald Trump in The Comey Rule. Lockdown hit Normal People is also in the runing with Daisy Edgar Jones nominated for Best actress in a Limited Series and Tomm Moore of Cartoon Saloon is hoping for a win of the beautiful Wolfwalkers, a strong contender in the Best Motion Animated Picture.
‘Sitting at home just takes all of the glamour out of it’
Anya, 24, who played chess prodigy Beth Harmon in The Queen’s Gambit, was spotted strolling in Los Angeles dressed all in black with a pair of chunkysoled burgundy Dr Martens.
Anya, American-born but Argentine-British by birth, also sported a Frozen-inspired plait and puffed on Marlboro Light cigarettes.
The willowy star is nominated for Best Actress in a made-for-TV film for The Queen’s Gambit and for best actress in a motion picture for the film Emma. Breakthrough actress Emma Corrin, who produced an uncannily lifelike performance as Diana, Princess of Wales in The Crown, is Anya’s main rival for the Best Actress in a TV movie prize.
She chose to relax before the awards by going for a walk with her dog Spencer.
Emma, 25, wore a cosy hoodie and €250 Ashley Williams trousers with a skeleton print as she took to the streets of Hampstead, North-West London with her flatmate, Lara Spirit, who is a political campaigner.
The Golden Globes kicks off Hollywood’s awards season, and the nominated
stars involved will have to wait at home to learn of her fate in the early hours of tomorrow. Thanks to the eight-hour time difference with LA, actresses Daisy, Emma, her The Crown costar Olivia Colman and Killing Eve’s Jodie Comer will only learn whether they’ve won between 1am and 4am tomorrow.
Soon after nominations were announced on February 3, camera kits were sent to nominees all over the world for them to film themselves and their acceptance speeches.
One insider said: ‘Sitting indoors with nowhere to go, even if you are dressed up, kind of takes all of the glamour out of things.’